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An anonymous reader writes "The MK-1 Robotic Arm from HDT Global comes from a DARPA sponsored project to create a highly advanced prosthetic limb. The disco dance moves shown at the beginning of this video show off the impressive dexterity of the modular servo units that comprise the MK-1 Robotic Arm." Internet rudeness alert: the (impressive) video starts autoplaying, with sound; you have been warned.

I was wondering the same. The brief blurb on the page talks about the possible use in prosthetics, but unless you have a control mechanism capable of making use of the full range of something like this, you essentially just have a very expensive plastic arm. It's great that the technology is there when it's needed, I just don't think that will be for a while yet.

The video says that the servo control is handled on board the module. So, you would need a trajectory planner and interpolator, but not amplifiers or drives. There is no comment on how to set up the tuning (for good control, robots require non-linear control laws). I *think* the newest ABB robot controllers, with some undocumented options, can directly feed interpolation points out over CAN bus (accepted by these modules), so it might be possible.

Once tech like this becomes commoditized(20 years?), just like the pc and the cell phone did, it's going to put loads of people out of work. Devices like this will be used to do everything from home health aid, janitorial, picking fruit, and mining. Interesting how that timeline will coincide with a general downward trend in education in the U.S. We already see on the horizon that many "white collar" jobs(financial, creative, etc;) will be lost to software. I find it fascinating how much of a double-sta

It depends. If robots take up some of the menial labor, humans are afforded more time to work on other problems. The calculator might have replaced pure number crunchers, but that doesn't mean people don't practice math anymore. There are still physicist, mathematicians, and engineers. Odds are, if I robot assistant is developed, we'll have robot repair shops, programming centers, and robot insurance; while having fewer fruit pickers and maids. Humans will probably be replaced for certain tasks, but since w

It depends. If robots take up some of the menial labor, humans are afforded more time to work on other problems. The calculator might have replaced pure number crunchers, but that doesn't mean people don't practice math anymore. There are still physicist, mathematicians, and engineers. Odds are, if I robot assistant is developed, we'll have robot repair shops, programming centers, and robot insurance; while having fewer fruit pickers and maids. Humans will probably be replaced for certain tasks, but since we define society as a group of humans, we will probably never be rid of one another.

I tend to agree with you about who will be displaced first, but I don't think we have to anticipate more widespread adoption of robots for a long, long time. We will probably have to cross the uncanny valley [wikipedia.org] in one quantum leap before society in general will accept robots in the roles of humans. As you suggest, roles that keep robots out of sight/out of mind will be about the only places robots can be effectively deployed until they are indistinguishable from us. Labor intensive tasks like agriculture a

A really amazing example of irrationality overwhelming rationality. You would refuse to shake hands with a person who has a prosthetic hand when you know they have a prosthetic hand simply because they have a prosthetic hand.

You're right. Here is a 12 minute YouTube video I made that talks about a balance between five interwoven economies that shifts with cultural change and technological change:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vK-M_e0JoY [youtube.com] "This video presents a simplified education model about socioeconomics and technological change. It discusses five interwoven economies (subsistence, gift, exchange, planned, and theft) and how the balance will shift with cultural changes and technological changes. It sugge

This is impressive and seems
to have essentially reached a goal of emulating
a human arm.

What really impressed me, though, was the modularity of the arm.
Presumably this would allow configurations other than
human-imitating arms. One could imagine
post-human configurations - whether for
prosthetic purposes, extending the capabilities of a
normal human, or as a stand-alone robot for specialized tasks.
E.g. (off the top of my head) would 7 fingers be more
useful than 5, or perhaps an arm with two (or se

Looks like it could self assemble.. meaning several modules could be fit thru a fairly narrow diameter pipe in a snakelike configuration. I'm thinking either through a bore hole, or perhaps entering a building via the sewage system.. and reconfigure itself once situated. I mean really, how many people lock their toilets?

Im part of the software team that is developing the MK2, (previously MK1), we showed the robot at AUVSI last week. I developed the low level driver communications, part of the control software for each joint, the network gateway and UI interfaces for the system using C#. I can give some vague details:

Some details about the dancing:- 27 degrees of freedom, 120 deg/s per joint.- Capable of generating a lot of torque within a small package (I dont think we have competitors that can currently match us)- About 2